


Next Door

by BookofOdym



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types, Justice Society of America (Comics)
Genre: Alan Scott's A+ Parenting, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: dckinkmeme, Crack Treated Seriously, Dubious Morality, He tries?, Henry King Sr.'s C+ Parenting, Identity Porn, M/M, POV Antagonist, Secret Identity, They Stick To Hero Kids Less Well, Villain Kids Stick Together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym
Summary: Merry dies for real several years earlier than she fake-dies in canon, when Henry Junior is about three, leaving him to live alone with his father. Instead of giving the twins up for adoption, Rose decides to give her children to Alan, who raises them alone. Both men move into the same neighborhood, but Henry Senior is already using his Sexy Illusion TM so Alan doesn't recognize him, and ends up slowly falling for the nice single father next door.Will Henry take advantage of this for some evil plot? I mean... yes, yes obviously he will who are you kidding?
Relationships: Alan Scott/Henry King Sr.
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

It was late when Henry King Sr. pulled into his driveway, so late that he didn't notice that there was a car by the house next door, the one that had been unlived in since he and his son had moved in last year. It had been a long day, and he just wanted to put his feet up, let his illusion dissolve, and/or deal with whatever fire had been started in the kitchen. 

Not that it would be Junior who had started the fire, of course, his son was a sensible boy, who knew that if Daddy wasn't home, he was only allowed to use the microwave. No, if Henry was allowed to leave Junior home alone, he would, because it would undoubtedly be safer than... 

“LARRY!” The doctor shouted into his house, and he waited in the living room for the inevitable shuffling of feet. A moment later, both Sportsmaster and his son were peering around the door sheepishly. As expected, Henry Junior had one band-aid on his forehead, another over his nose, and on closer inspection, his fingers were bandaged. 

“Daddy!” His son ran at him, jumping into his arms. “We were playing hockey!” 

“I can see that,” One unfortunate thing about having Sportsmaster babysit (and really, Henry still wished that his first choice: Fiddler, had agreed) was that he was now apparently raising a baby jock. Except no, that wasn't fair; Merry had loved sports too. She'd done figure skating as a child and had their son on the ice by age two, she'd done gymnastics and had already been making preparations for Junior when she'd died, she'd done equestrianism, and... well, Henry had vetoed that one. Horses were evil creatures who would probably eat a toddler for the protein. 

As long as his son didn't decide to play that most accursed of games, football, he wasn't going to complain. Too much. The problem was that the ice rink he took Junior to had noticed that he was about to turn five, and five was the minimum age to play hockey. He'd had two sets of eyes giving him the puppy dog look that night, at least until he'd kicked Larry out of the house. 

The other unfortunate thing about having Larry babysit was that when the two inevitably ended up playing together, Larry exhibited absolutely no restraint whatsoever, tackling the boy with the same force he would use against an adult man. There was a reason he had been banned from every single sport. 

“I have something else to tell you, Daddy,” Junior said, pointing at a book that was open on the coffee table. A quick glance told him that it was Jonathan Law's 'Altered Egos: The Mystery Men of World War Two.' “A man moved in next door today.” 

Larry approached them from behind, “I’ll tell you something, Hank. Your kid was following me around since this morning with that book; he must really like Green Lantern. I musta read that page to him at least three times. Doesn't have a lotta good things to say about me, though.” 

Junior made a face, and his father didn’t need to read his mind to know that he’d been trying to tell Larry something, and had been summarily ignored. He wasn’t old enough to read an academic text, but the book did have pictures. Hmmm. 

“Do not call me Hank,” Henry picked up the book, walking over to the window. In the house next door, a handsome blond man was locking all the doors and windows for the night. Carefully, not wanting to draw the man's attention, he reached out with his mind. This was Green Lantern, alright. “Lawrence, you imbecile, why didn't you mention this as soon as I arrived home?” 

“Maybe I wanted to land your hot new neighbor for myself?” 

“YOU'RE MARRIED!” There was only so much idiocy that Henry could take in one day, and he had already reached his limit. “Did you really not notice that-?” 

He froze. The blond man was looking back at them, eyes such a pale blue that they almost looked creepy. Thank goodness Henry hadn't allowed his work illusion to dissolve, he'd be arrested immediately, and then Junior would be put in care, and then- the man smiled at them, raising his hand in greeting. Apparently, he didn't recognize either of them. 

Well then, all he had to do was never interact with the man at all. That way, Green Lantern would never get the opportunity to find out who he was. Henry allowed the curtain to slide closed without even returning the man's greeting. 

If only his son's thoughts weren't filled with plans to meet his favorite superhero, and his idiot friend's thoughts weren't filled with... disgusting, sexual ideas that should never be repeated.

* * *

Henry woke up early the next morning, a small, warm body pressed up against his side. They needed to put a stop to this; Junior had to learn to sleep in his own bed sometime. It was just that... he'd gone to bed one night and woken up with his mother... she'd been cold in the bed when Henry woke up. The coroner had pronounced that she'd been very sick without telling either of them. 

To Junior, though, it seemed like he thought that if he stayed by his remaining parent at night, then he'd always still be there. Junior was a very smart boy for his age, but he was still four. 

He brushed his hand through ginger curls, and the boy stirred. “Tomorrow night,” Henry told him, “you're staying in your room.” 

Tiny hands tightened on his pajama shirt. “Can- can you stay there too?” 

Henry should have said no. If he was his own father, he would have said no. But he really couldn't. “I'll try.” The bed was tiny, so he'd leave as soon as the boy fell asleep, sneaking back before he woke up. 

“It's the weekend, Dad,” the boy told him, all traces of fear covered up, “you're not allowed to go to work. It's no illusions day.” 

“Ah,” The truth was that his son very much preferred him in his natural state; he was perceptive enough to understand that people just treated Henry differently when he looked like that, but his personal opinion seemed to be ‘real Daddy is better’, “well, son, I think for a while I'm going to need to stay in my work illusion. I need to make a good impression on our new neighbor.” 

“Because he's hot?” Junior asked innocently. “Like Uncle Crusher said?” 

It was decided. Henry was going to kill Sportsmaster. Using that language around his baby boy... Junior was going to pick up bad habits. 

“Go watch cartoons, Junior. I need a few minutes to get ready.”

* * *

When he got downstairs, though, the TV was off, without Spider-Man or the X-Men on the screen, and the front door was wide open. Henry knew exactly where his son had gone. 

“Junior!” He hissed as he charged in the direction of the house next door. He knew he'd made the right decision wearing the illusion instead of closing all the curtains and spending the day in peace. Sure enough, the boy was standing on the porch of the house next door, finger already on the doorbell. “What are you doing?” He picked up his son, fully intent on just carrying him home when the door swung open. 

The blond man, Green Lantern, stood there, holding a young girl in his arms. 

Henry tightened his arms around his son, turning away slightly as if to hide him from sight. “Sorry, the boy's excitable. I lost sight of him for a moment. We'll leave you in peace.” 

But then Green Lantern... smiled... actually smiled, and Henry didn't think he did it that often. His thoughts were all about how attractive Henry was. Hah. He'd certainly never thought that while they were fighting. “Don't worry about it, I saw him playing with your husband yesterday, but we were too busy to properly say hello.” Here, the thoughts were all about how it was a shame that Henry was already married but that it would be nice to live near other gay men for once. Maybe he could talk about... 

“Larry isn't my husband,” Henry tried not to gag at the idea that he'd ever allow that oaf to touch him, he wanted Green Lantern to be completely disinterested in him, not hate him because he thought he was a homophobe, “He's just... helping, with Junior, because I'm so busy at work.” 

Here, a spark of hope, and Henry imagined crushing it, how easy it would be. It would be... enjoyable to watch. But he would be arrested, and his son would be taken away, so he just had to wait. “You can come in if you want. I just put the kettle on.” 

Junior was grounded. He was so grounded. Just as soon as Henry got out of this, he was being locked in his room forever. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning that Todd is gonna be Mr. Not Appearing In This Fic because I promised I wouldn't write him again. References because he does exist, but never any lines.

Of course, as soon as they got inside the building, Junior started acting all shy, burying his face in his father’s neck in order to hide from Green Lantern’s children. He wasn’t very successful in that endeavor, though. 

“Why don’t you go play with Jenny and Todd,” Alan addressed the boy, although Henry knew for a fact that he wouldn’t want Junior anywhere near them if he knew the truth. As if reading his response, the boy tightened his arms around Henry’s neck. 

“You caused this. You’ll get no sympathy from me,” Ignoring Junior’s heartbroken expression, he lowered him to the ground, where Junior immediately latched onto his legs. Curses, he’d been outmaneuvered again. Perhaps letting his son interact with a team of supervillains regularly had been a mistake. “And what have we learned about making plans without fully thinking through the consequences?” 

“He’s shy,” Green Lantern said. He was seemingly not angered by Junior’s impolite display. He just unscrewed the cookie jar, holding one out towards the boy to coax him into letting go. It was a wasted cookie, though, since Steven had spent a week teaching the three kids how to cheat at cards and another teaching them to pickpocket without being noticed, all three of them could move their hands too fast to be seen. 

Steven really could have thought through the difficulties of actually parenting a child like that before he did it, or maybe it had been out of spite in the first place. 

“He doesn’t interact with a lot of children his own age,” the problem was Cameron, Icicle’s son. He had a tendency to be... possessive and would scare the other children away from Henry Junior, who he considered to be his property. Henry had read Cameron’s mind once, and it had been slightly disturbing, even for him. Still, he’d rather Junior have strong allies in the future than weak friends. “Not to worry, plenty of time for that later, when he’s in school.” 

“Hmm,” Green Lantern responded, not looking like he really believed that, “I suppose. I’m Alan.” 

So, they were avoiding last names. That was good. Last names might complicate things more than they should be. “Henry.” 

*Junior,* he told his son mentally, *this is the only chance you’ll get to explore Green Lantern’s house. Why don’t you let go of my legs and see if you can find the power battery?* 

That got him going, leaving Henry free to experiment with what he had just learned about Green Lantern’s... attraction towards him. He leaned in a bit closer. “You ever have any problems raising two of them all alone?” 

Green Lantern narrowed his eyes at Henry because no, he hadn’t ever said that out loud. 

Henry gave a disarming smile. “A lot of people were excited about an attractive single man moving in. There’s been no small amount of gossip. I think Mrs. Johnson from across the street might be planning on making a move.” 

There was a flash of fear. Green Lantern still hadn’t figured out how he was going to turn women who were interested down. It made sense; they were both very old, and when they were young, telling someone straight up wasn’t likely to go well. Lantern wasn’t used to the way the world was now yet. 

“Of course, you could always just tell her you’re taken. I certainly won’t be the one to rat you out.” 

Alan took a deep breath, and there was a flashing thought through his brain, one that said, ‘maybe if I was already taken, I wouldn’t have to lie.’ It was gone as soon as it was there, though. “To answer your question, my kids don’t tend to be so... clingy, because they have a lot of interaction with other people. We were going to go to the park today because Jenny wanted to meet the local kids. Why don’t you and your son come too?” 

To tell the truth, Junior wasn’t really welcome in that park, not since the day that Cameron and Artemis had taken it over and instituted a toll. Kids up until fifth grade had been forced to fork over money if they wanted to pass through. It had been... pretty humorous, he had to admit, watching Larry and Joar have to apologize to the other parents for the trouble, not that either of them had meant it. 

Junior hadn’t even been involved, he’d been distracted by trying to make a sandcastle out of all of the sand in the pit, but it turned out that you could get a bad reputation just from being associated with other people, and now parents would refuse to let their children talk to him. 

Really, Henry should refuse. The less Alan knew about that, the better. He wanted to seem like a respectable, romanceable individual who was completely trustworthy. 

There was a tugging at his pants leg. “If we’re going, can Cam and Art’mis come along?” His son asked, the very picture of innocence. 

Henry truly was screwed. 

“Hold on,” he sighed, “I need to call their parents first. They might be busy.” 

Except, hm. He could probably... push... Cameron into being possessive, not that the boy would necessarily need it, he’d start a fight with one of Green Lantern’s brats. He would get all protective, and refuse to let his children hang out with Henry’s son, who was the obvious cause of the problem. 

It was the perfect way of extracting Junior from the situation. If Henry was going to try to manipulate Alan, he needed the boy out of the way. He had no control over anything his son did, and he was sure the boy would find a way to ruin everything. Henry could play the part of the guilty father, and then he would be able to... oh yes, it was perfect. 

* * *

Unbelievable. 

“So,” Joar said, standing next to Henry with his arms crossed, “I feel like you probably should have mentioned that you were dragging us out to spend the afternoon with a superhero. What were you thinking?!” 

“My son’s puppy dog eyes are so cute, I can’t deny him anything, probably,” Lawrence mimed chucking the football in his hands at Green Lantern’s head. Henry scrambled to pull it out of his grip. 

“I was thinking that I might be able to get Cameron to beat up the boy, and then they’d leave my family alone.”

All three men looked towards the play area, where Junior and Cameron seemed to be trying to make the swing go all the way around. Artemis wasn't with them, she had trapped three kids in a merry-go-round and was spinning them too fast for them to escape. Neither of them were showing any interest in anyone else. It was the worst possible situation, because even if Henry manipulated Cameron into acting violent, it would just look like the boy had emotional issues. Junior would receive precisely no blame for the situation.

“Junior’d probably-” Joar started. 

“Yes. Yes, I know Junior would have to actually talk to him first. Thank you for the insight.” Henry grumbled something that he probably shouldn’t have said about his own son. “I’m going to give him a push.” 

“He’s probably trying to keep Cameron’s feelings in mind,” Lawrence pointed out. 

“Well, he shouldn’t!” Henry stomped over to the play area, where the two boys were having a conversation. 

“It’s okay to be scared,” Junior was saying, “we can just go and say hi, then come back.” 

“Don’t wanna. They look like jerks.” 

“Not really, they look like normal people.” Junior was trying very hard to be reasonable, but it didn’t seem to be sinking in. 

“They’ll hurt you,” Cameron said, “they’ll lock you up, let people cut into your brain, and leave you there to die.” 

“Cam, that sounds like an exegg- exacter- lie,” he stepped away from the swing, taking a step towards the Scott family, “look, I’ll show you.” 

Cameron’s hand shot out, gripping Junior’s sleeve, ice crystals began to form on the fabric, travelling up the other boy’s arm. He glared at the family, unmoving. “No.” 

Henry sighed, climbing over the fence. “Cameron, I promise you, if any of them ever does anything to hurt my son, I will kill them,” he whispered into the boy’s ear, quietly enough that no one would be able to hear it even if they tried. “Junior,” he said, more loudly. “Go play. With the boy. I need to have a conversation with Cameron.”


End file.
